A year of running a small gallery: here’s what we’ve learned so far…

It’s been a year since we opened our neighbourhood gallery in our Cotswold hometown of Nailsworth and we thought it was the perfect time to pause and take a look back. It’s been a time of deep learning, growth, struggle and joy in equal measure. Here are some things we have learnt and how we’ve grown along the way…

It’s a privilege to be tasked with bringing an artist’s vision to life.

To make something is an intimate thing and artist’s studios are immensely private environments, so the transition of work into the public sphere is always delicate. We have learned that as challenging as it can be for our working habits, there isn’t really a one size fits all approach to presenting artists’ work. This job requires us to develop a relationship with artists, get to know the work, understand the people who would be most interested in it and plan each exhibition accordingly. For each artist and show we take a new approach to marketing, photographing, cataloguing, and most importantly curating the physical space, choosing objects and furniture to complement the work. Each exhibition we learn something new.

Staying true to our values has been really important this first year…

The Stroud Valleys have an incredible creative community. In getting to know local creatives and businesses we have been struck by a sense that the artists here are carrying a lot of the financial burdens of keeping the cultural scene alive. We believe artists and creatives should get paid properly, and not have to always rely on funding which can be complicated and difficult to secure. This is something we have been passionate about for many years and was one of the main reasons we vowed to always make our residencies free of charge with no application fee.

Making art and running spaces doesn’t come without cost, any artist or creative business can attest to the challenges of this. While a gallery’s prices can seem high they reflect rents, materials, studio costs; not to mention the years of experience it took our artists to make the work and the hours and days we spend getting it ready to present. One of the most rewarding parts of this first year has been standing by the value we place on artists’ work, while taking the time to explain why it costs what it does. It has sparked countless conversations with people in our local community, which have encouraged us and made us think more deeply about what a sustainable and accessible art scene can look like.

Love thy neighbour…

Our wonderful neighbours and local community are the heroes of this gallery space: Vintage pieces borrowed from The Vintologist for shoot days, the ‘Nice Baps’ from Lisa on hang day, the last-minute window vinyl that somehow appears overnight from Craig at CR Signs, the flowers from our mums’ vegetable patch, the window cleaners who always have the ability to brighten the darkest days, our lovely upstairs neighbour who is endlessly chilled about the sporadic drilling noises. And then there are our friends who bring record players and turn up to opening parties to provide the best conversation and make sure all the beers get drunk. A year on, these are the people who have made the journey so special.

Sister Sister…

One of the questions we get asked the most is ‘how do you not kill each other when working together?’ It’s no easy task to work with family, the usual colleague to colleague boundaries are thrown out of the window. Learning each other’s working styles in a professional context while navigating the pressures of running a small business together is challenging, of course. That said, there are huge pros to working together. We have the uncanny ability to understand each other’s vision without having to communicate via a presentation deck, a long drawn out meeting or any kind of corporate sign-off. Meaning things get done quicker and we can be agile. We also largely have the same tastes, with the exception of a few colour combinations and sandwich fillings. We have spent more time together in the last year than we have with our other halves and still go on holiday together, so something must be working!

Having a physical space is a huge responsibility.

This one we already knew since we have had the cottage for over 6 years, but making the move to the high street has brought a whole host of new learnings. Being part of a town’s landscape brings a sense of commitment to the community we have been endlessly fascinated by, particularly because this is the town we grew up in, so we are intimately acquainted. Over the past year we have tested and trialled many engagement methods. A whole host of coffee mornings, workshops, events, artist talks and plenty of busy opening parties later we are still very much figuring out how best to present things to our community in ways that feel inclusive and inviting!

We are often treading a fine line between creating a space that feels refined and polished but doesn’t come off as intimidating. The core function of a gallery should be to display art so people can come and look at it. Art should be seen by as many people as possible, it enriches our lives, asks important questions, sparks imagination, inspires, moves, heals and every describing word in between. As much as its fantastic to sell artworks for artists, we find it as enjoyable when someone comes in, a conversation is sparked, opinions are shared and we learn something new; it really reminds us why we opened in the first place.

A new direction for small galleries…

It’s been an amazing journey for us to discover all of the other small galleries challenging the status quo at a time of change for the art industry. Before we started we did not have any background in running a gallery and so the temptation might have been to feel a sense of imposter syndrome (we can’t deny we didn’t feel it at times!). However, mostly we were struck with intense admiration for the countless incredible gallerists carving out new ways to do things. We have been endlessly inspired by those finding ways to not be beholden to the big art fairs, operate in small rural towns outside of big cities, utilise untraditional methods and present work in fresh, exciting ways. It’s been such a joy to connect with other gallerists in this context and we have been so grateful for the reciprocated interest in what we are doing at This House.

Words by Katie and Tash (not AI!)